NASA Exploration Roadmap: A return to the Moon’s surface documented

The latest documentation relating to the efforts to create an Exploration Roadmap for NASA’s future has provided the strongest indication to date that the Agency wants to return US astronauts to the surface of the Moon. Listed as a Lunar Surface Sortie (LSS) mission, the Exploration Systems Development Division (ESD) revealed their plans via their latest Concept Of Operations (Con Ops) document.

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Right now, the Agency has only provided the “party line” of two test flights around the moon, a visit to a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) sometime in the mid 2020s and the eventual crewed missions to Mars in the mid 2030s.

As noted by some people working within the exploration effort, there is a level of frustration that the Agency’s own top boss appears more politically fixated in salvaging the remains of President Obama’s defunct FY2011 budget proposal, as opposed to promoting what they claim is an exciting exploration roadmap development process.

Regardless, this requirement is listed in the March ESD Con Ops Document – acquired by L2 (L2 Link to Presentation) – as a Design Reference Mission (DRM), listed as ISS Back-up Crew Delivery, which “delivers crew members and cargo to ISS if other vehicles are unable to perform that function. Mission length 216 mission days. 6 crewed days. Up to 210 days at the ISS.”

SLS’ opening role – under a nominal scenario for the Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) – is now well known, with a mid-December, 2017 launch of a Block 1 (70mt) SLS with an Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), launching an unmanned Orion on a 7-10 day mission to the Moon, with an aim to qualify the Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) and Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) Orion to carry humans into deep space.

This DRM lists the Total Payload Gross Liftoff Mass at 62.2 tons, with SLS’ Payload Insertion Mass at 50.4 tons. The document also notes that the mission duration may be tweaked, listing a slightly different timeline of 6-8 mission days, with around one day at the destination.

With a crew of four onboard the Orion for the trip to the Moon, the DRM lists slightly different numbers than EM-1, with a Total Payload Gross Liftoff Mass at 68.8 tons, with SLS’ Payload Insertion Mass at 57.0 tons. This mission would have a length of 10-14 days, with four days at the destination – pointing to numerous Lunar orbits for Orion and its crew.

The CPS – which has been under evaluation for around two years and is now finally under the direction and funding of the SLS program – is entering into its RAC (Requirements Analysis Cycle), which should be completed in May.

According to L2’s SLS Development update section (L2 Link) CPS’ that are being studied in this RAC will be early versions that could store propellants for as much as eight days for use in lunar orbit or somewhere else in cislunar space. The first flight would be in the early 2020s.

Additionally, multiple versions are being studied. using as few as two – or as many as four – RL-10 engines for propulsion.

Lunar Missions To The Surface:

Technically, a return to the surface of the Moon was cancelled when the Constellation Program (CxP) ended. However, a growing movement within the exploration community at NASA resulted in documented references into the potential of new footprints being placed on our nearest neighbor.

Once again, this effort hasn’t been publicly promoted by NASA, nor was it referenced to lawmakers during the recent hearing involving General Bolden.

Regardless, once again, documentation placed the potential for such missions firmly into the spotlight, with the ESD Con Ops listing it alongside the main NEA missions under the Architectural Timeframe DRMs.

“Lunar Surface Sortie (LSS): Lands four crew members on the surface of the Moon in the equatorial or Polar Regions and returns them to Earth,” noted the presentation.

As listed in the Con Ops, this mission – based on just SLS related hardware – would involve two Block 1A SLS vehicles, launching 121 days apart. The first SLS would launch the Lunar Lander, with a Block 1 CPS, followed by the second SLS launching a crew of four on Orion for a 19 day mission, with seven days on the Moon.

No dates are provided by the Con Ops, although based on the availability of the SLS Block 1A, such a mission would be viable by the first half of the 2020s.

ISS and Exploration teams are currently involved in what is being described as “L2 WayPoint Activities“, with cross-center sources claiming a groundswell of support for marrying SLS and Orion to this drive after the EM-2 mission. See L2’s Exploration Roadmap Update section for additional information (L2 Link).

As such, the roadmap appears to be closing in on the two SLS missions to qualify the launch vehicle and Orion, hopefully by 2019, prior to the drive towards constructing and deploying – via Solar Electric Power (SEP) – the Exploration Platform to EML-2.

With either SLS only, or Exploration Platform involvement, sortie missions to the Lunar surface would then take place, followed by NEA missions. The NEA mission DRMs take up a large amount of the ESD Con Ops overview and will be covered in an upcoming article

This would all play a role towards the main goal of crewed missions to Mars. While the ESD Con Ops failed to list any Mars related DRMs – classing them as To Be Determined (TBD) – documentation on L2’s Exploration Roadmap section recently acquired notes that show this effort is under evaluation.

“Phobos/Deimos Con Ops Team (is) now up and running to define potential Human Mission activities at the Mars moons,” claimed the documentation – which mirrors all recent Mars mission documentation, pointing to a mission to one of Mars’ moons, before landing on Mars itself.